EPFO adds 15.62 lakh net members in December 2023 as employment rises

EPFO's data released on Tuesday highlighted that 15.62 lakh net members have been added to the employment payroll in December, 2023 which is highest in the last three months.
There has been an increase of 11.97 per cent in the net EPFO member addition during the month as compared to November. Further, the year on year analysis reveals a growth of 4.62 per cent in net member additions compared to December 2022. “This surge in membership can be attributed to various factors, including increased employment opportunities, a growing awareness of employee benefits, and the effectiveness of EPFO's outreach programs,” Labour Ministry said.

The data indicates that around 8.41 lakh new members have enrolled during December, 2023 which is highest during the previous three months. The new members addition shows an increase of 14.21 per cent when compared with previous month of November 2023. A noticeable aspect of the data is the dominance of the 18-25 age group, constituting a significant 57.18 per cent of the total new members added in December. This statistic underscores a notable trend - the majority of individuals joining the organised workforce are youth, primarily first-time job seekers.
The payroll data highlights that approximately 12.02 lakh members exited and subsequently rejoined EPFO.

This figure represents a significant 12.61 per cent increase compared to the previous month of November 2023 and stands as the highest recorded in the past five months. These members switched their jobs and re-joined the establishments covered under the ambit of EPFO and opted to transfer their accumulations instead of applying for final settlement thus, safeguarding long-term financial well-being and extending their social security protection. Gender-wise analysis of payroll data unveils that out of 8.41 lakh new members, around 2.09 lakh are new female members. This figure marks the highest recorded addition of female workforce in the last three months.

The comparison with the previous month of November 2023 shows an increase of 7.57 per cent. Also, the net female member addition during the month stood at around 2.90 lakh reflecting an increase of approximately 3.54 per cent compared to the previous month of November 2023.

The surge in female member additions is indicative of a broader shift towards a more inclusive and diverse workforce. State-wise analysis of payroll data denotes that net member addition is highest in the 5 states/ UTs of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Haryana. These states constitute around 58.33 per cent of net member addition, adding a total of 9.11 lakh net members during the month. Of all the states, Maharashtra is leading by adding 21.63 per cent of net members during the month.

Month-on-month comparison of industry-wise data displays significant growth in the members working in establishments engaged in the industries viz. Iron and Steel, Building & construction, General Insurance etc. Of the total net membership, around 40.66 per cent addition is from expert services (consisting of manpower suppliers, normal contractors, security services, miscellaneous activities etc.). The payroll data is provisional as updating employee records is a continuous process. The previous data hence gets updated every month.